Creative Releases Official 32-bit Linux X-Fi Driver

btarunr · Nov 7, 2008

Creative staff has announced that it is ready with its first release of drivers for Sound Blaster X-Fi sound cards, that supports 32-bit Linux. The driver comes in the form of a source tar-ball. The drivers allow seemless operation over ALSA. Updates to the x86_64 drivers are provided as well. This driver applies to all X-Fi series sound cards based on the CA-20K series audio processor. Its known issues include lack of functionality for external I/O modules, and that there are no Linux versions of the applications Creative bundles in its Driver CDs, which work under Windows, as of now.

To download the drivers, select your compatible Sound Blaster X-Fi model from this page and choose Linux under the manual selection drop-down to list Linux drivers.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

ShadowFold · Nov 7, 2008

Yay!... now wheres the Vista drivers

imperialreign · Nov 7, 2008

nice to finally see official support for linux - I'll have to update the XSS thread later . . .

panchoman · Nov 7, 2008

hmm the guys at creative actually got off their fat lazy asses ehh?

frankie827 · Nov 7, 2008

panchoman said:
hmm the guys at creative actually got off their fat lazy asses ehh?

well in the past the x-fi series has been targeted at gamers...do you know any hardcore linux gamers?

KainXS · Nov 7, 2008

I know vista gamers, i am one, and look how creative treats us :ohwell:

frankie827 · Nov 7, 2008

haha so am i

and yes they don't treat us very well

npp · Nov 8, 2008

Ok, call me a dumbass but I couldn't make it to the driver download page. I have always hated Creative's website and support and the good tradition continues. It's a complete mess, cudos. Besides, I really doubt the damn thing works. They never seemed to have got it right under Windows, a different OS will be definetely a disaster.

EDIT: Yeah sure, I'm the proud owner of an X-Fi that simply doesn't exist on the european product list, and there is no word about linux drivers in the download area of the us site.

mab1376 · Nov 8, 2008

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=75443

posted the actual driver in last post earlier.

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Nov 8, 2008

I swear Im the only person who doesnt have problems with Creative.

ShadowFold · Nov 8, 2008

I don't have any problems in vista its just I never see updates and it took me an hour to find the actual drivers so I feel as if there is little to no support for it..

btarunr · Nov 8, 2008

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:
I swear Im the only person who doesnt have problems with Creative.

Me too. There could be more people without problems than those with, but it's that while people with problems rant and express displeasure, those without remain silent and wait for the next product, so you feel all alone when you've a Creative product running smooth, since you don't have people come and tell you "I :love:

my X-Fi", while I can remember having at least 10 propaganda emails ranting how much Creative sucks when I was posting in the X-Fi club.

As for this driver, I have a rant: why a 32-bit driver 3 years after the release? Why no applications? Even then, why tf is it a source tarball, leaving the users to do a fair bit of work to get the driver to work? Why couldn't it be an easy installer like that of the NVIDIA GLX driver? This is pathetic.

NinkobEi · Nov 8, 2008

i wonder if these will work with mah auzey card? might give me an excuse to dual boot linux

mab1376 · Nov 8, 2008

btarunr said:
Me too. There could be more people without problems than those with, but it's that while people with problems rant and express displeasure, those without remain silent and wait for the next product, so you feel all alone when you've a Creative product running smooth, since you don't have people come and tell you "I my X-Fi", while I can remember having at least 10 propaganda emails ranting how much Creative sucks when I was posting in the X-Fi club.

As for this driver, I have a rant: why a 32-bit driver 3 years after the release? Why no applications? Even then, why tf is it a source tarball, leaving the users to do a fair bit of work to get the driver to work? Why couldn't it be an easy installer like that of the NVIDIA GLX driver? This is pathetic.

I've also never had any issues with my X-Fi under Vista or XP. But being an avid Linux user, that's was my only problem.

FatForester · Nov 8, 2008

What are you guys babbling on about with Creative having bad Vista drivers? I've used 3 onboard chips, 3 C-Media cards (Bluegears b-enspirer, HT Omega Striker, HT Omega Claro), and the Creative cards have the best drivers BY FAR. My only beef with them is how long it took them to finally enable Dolby and DTS support for the older X-fi models (as well as wanting to charge $5 for Dolby Digital Live! support on the External I/O), but other than that I can't complain... especially after seeing how atrocious everyone else's drivers are.

imperialreign · Nov 8, 2008

btarunr said:
Me too. There could be more people without problems than those with, but it's that while people with problems rant and express displeasure, those without remain silent and wait for the next product, so you feel all alone when you've a Creative product running smooth, since you don't have people come and tell you "I my X-Fi", while I can remember having at least 10 propaganda emails ranting how much Creative sucks when I was posting in the X-Fi club.

As for this driver, I have a rant: why a 32-bit driver 3 years after the release? Why no applications? Even then, why tf is it a source tarball, leaving the users to do a fair bit of work to get the driver to work? Why couldn't it be an easy installer like that of the NVIDIA GLX driver? This is pathetic.

really? sorry to hear that, man - I have yet to have any creative-bashing/ranting emails end up in my inbox . . .

. . . thankfully.

Personally, I've never had any major issues with their official drivers, but I tend to slap the beta drivers on as soon as they're out as well . . . hey, if I'm gonna run into issues, I'd like to be ahead of the complaint curve . . . TBH, most issues don't revolve around the drivers at all . . .

mab1376 · Nov 9, 2008

Works perfectly!!

btarunr · Nov 9, 2008

Do you have access to features such as Crystalizer, etc? Subjectively how's the audio quality compared to the Windows version?

mab1376 · Nov 9, 2008

Not that I can see, I've poked around a bit and I don't even see a setting for 5.1 setting or an equalizer. Nonetheless it works, and I've tested Rythmbox with MP3 and M4a files, Totem Video player with xvid encoded avi's and Firefox with the Flash Plugin on youtube and break.com

Audio quality is clear (no hissing or hiccups) however sounds a little drab, probably due to the fact i usually have the crystallizer on with and equalizer as well.

btarunr · Nov 9, 2008

Crystalizer is a software feature. Whether or not it's enabled in the Windows installation, it will be 'off' here, unless there's an option to enable it.

mab1376 · Nov 9, 2008

Yeah I know, I'm saying I usually have it turned on when I'm in windows. So that's why my music collection usually sounds a little better, I'll test more tomorrow and let you know.

mab1376 · Nov 11, 2008

found this interesting.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	The ShadowFold Draconis (Ordering soon)
Processor	AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz
Motherboard	ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870
Cooling	Stock
Memory	Kingston ValueRAM 4GB DDR3-1333
Video Card(s)	XFX ATi Radeon HD 5850 1gb
Storage	Western Digital 640gb
Display(s)	Acer 21.5" 5ms Full HD 1920x1080P
Case	Antec Nine-Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + Creative "Fatal1ty" Headset
Power Supply	Antec Earthwatts 650w
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Benchmark Scores	-❶-❸-❸-❼-

System Name	УльтраФиолет
Processor	Intel Kentsfield Q9650 @ 3.8GHz (4.2GHz highest achieved)
Motherboard	ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi; X38 NSB, ICH9R SSB
Cooling	Delta V3 block, XPSC res, 120x3 rad, ST 1/2" pump - 10 fans, SYSTRIN HDD cooler, Antec HDD cooler
Memory	Dual channel 8GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 @ 1800MHz @ 7-7-7-20 1T
Video Card(s)	Quadfire: (2) Sapphire HD5970
Storage	(2) WD VelociRaptor 300GB SATA-300; WD 320GB SATA-300; WD 200GB UATA + WD 160GB UATA
Display(s)	Samsung Syncmaster T240 24" (16:10)
Case	Cooler Master Stacker 830
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro PCI-E x1
Power Supply	Kingwin Mach1 1200W modular
Software	Windows XP Home SP3; Vista Ultimate x64 SP2
Benchmark Scores	3m06: 20270 here: http://hwbot.org/user.do?userId=12313

Processor	Amd Athlon X2 4600+ Windsor(90nm) EE(65W) @2.9-3.0 @1.45
Motherboard	Biostar Tforce [Nvidia] 550
Cooling	Thermaltake Blue Orb-- bunch of other fans here and there....
Memory	2 gigs (2x1gb) of patriot ddr2 800 @ 4-4-4-12-2t
Video Card(s)	Sapphire X1950pro Pci-E x16 @stock@stock on stock
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 250gb Drive, WD raptors (30/40) in Raid 0
Display(s)	ANCIENT 15" sony lcd, bought it when it was like 500 bucks
Case	Apevia X-plorer blue/black
Audio Device(s)	Onboard- Why get an sound card when you can hum??
Power Supply	Antec NeoHe 550-manufactured by seasonic -replacement to the discontinued smart power series
Software	Windows XP pro SP2 -- vista is still crap

System Name	Gaming PC
Processor	Core 2 Quad Q6600 B3@3.3ghz @ 1.376V \| VID: 1.313V
Motherboard	Evga Nvidia Nforce 680i LT SLI
Cooling	7x 12cm case fans+Xigmatek HDT-s1283 Dark Knight
Memory	4gb DDR2-800 Corsair XMS2
Video Card(s)	896mb Evga GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 (720/1515/1135)
Storage	2x 160gb Seagate Baraccudas + 1x 640gb Western Digital Caviar Green + 1x 1tb Samsung F1
Display(s)	Sceptre 20.1" 1080P Widescreen
Case	NZXT Zero
Audio Device(s)	Creative Soundblaster Audigy SE+Creative Fatal1ty Headset/Logitech X-530 5.1 Surround
Power Supply	Silverstone Zeus 750watt
Software	Vista Home Premium 32-Bit
Benchmark Scores	15883 on 3dmark06 w/ windows 7 beta @ 3.3ghz 13188 on 3dmark vantage w/ windows 7 beta @ 3.2ghz

Creative Releases Official 32-bit Linux X-Fi Driver

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

ShadowFold

New Member

imperialreign

New Member

panchoman

Sold my stars!

frankie827

New Member

KainXS

frankie827

New Member

npp

mab1376

CrAsHnBuRnXp

ShadowFold

New Member

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

NinkobEi

mab1376

FatForester

New Member

imperialreign

New Member

mab1376

Attachments

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

mab1376

Attachments

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

mab1376

mab1376

Attachments

Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5950x, Ryzen 9 5980HX
Motherboard	MSI X570 Tomahawk
Cooling	Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4(With Noctua Fans)
Memory	32Gb Crucial 3600 Ballistix
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte RTX 3080, Asus 6800M
Storage	Adata SX8200 1TB NVME/WD Black 1TB NVME
Display(s)	Dell 27 Inch 165Hz
Case	Phanteks P500A
Audio Device(s)	IFI Zen Dac/JDS Labs Atom+/SMSL Amp+Rivers Audio
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G502 SE Hero
Keyboard	Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2
VR HMD	Samsung Odyssey Plus
Software	Windows 10

System Name	My Current Desktop
Processor	i9 12900KF
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX Z690-E GAMING WIFI
Cooling	ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6400 F5-6400J3239G16GA2-TZ5RS
Video Card(s)	RTX 3090 FE
Storage	SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung G80SD
Case	Fractal Design Torrent White
Audio Device(s)	Schiit Bifrost2
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Razer Basilisk v3 pro
Keyboard	Keychron Q6 Max (brown)
Software	Win 11 Pro

Processor	Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard	Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling	6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RBG 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s)	Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case	Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply	Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse	Logitech G604s
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software	Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670

System Name	Norfree
Processor	i5 3570k @4.4
Motherboard	Gigabyte UD5H
Cooling	212 Evo
Memory	4x4GB Kingston 1600 @ 1833 9cl
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro Fury
Storage	Corsair SSD, WD Black
Display(s)	1080p TV
Case	Corsair 300-R
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech Prelude > Fidelio X2s and AD-700s
Power Supply	PCP&C Silent 950w
Software	Win 10 Pro 64

Processor	Intel e2180 2.0ghz @ 2.8ghz w/ stock volts
Motherboard	ASUS P5K-e Wifi-AP
Cooling	Zalman 9500 w/ AS5
Memory	G.Skill Black PI's DDR2 @ 896MHz 4-4-4-12 1.9v
Video Card(s)	EVGA 8800GT w/ Zalman VF-900
Storage	2x Crucial C300 64GB, Samsung F3 2TB & 1TB, F1 1TB & 750GB
Display(s)	ASUS VW246H 24" 16:9
Case	Ultra / Chieftec Black Tower
Audio Device(s)	X-fi XtremeMusic -> Z-5300e's
Power Supply	PCP&C 610 Silencer
Software	Windows 7 x64